The Jewish advance., August 16, 1878, Page 2, Image 2

About The Jewish advance. (Chicago, Ill.) 1878-1881

Image provided by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

                
Fob the Jewish Advance.
ALBERT COHN.
II.
Iri the year 1838, Albert Cohn was in
vited by the Rothschild family to accom
pany them on a trip to Italy. He ac
cepted the invitation with pleasure, and
visited Turin, Geneva and Livorna, In
the latter city, he went to see the first
Jewish school of Italy which had been
established by Franchetti, the father of
the well-known franc-tireur, who had
acquired great fame for bravery during
the late Franco-Prussian war. Mr. Ba
sevi, the president of the Livornian
Jewish community, presented Albert
Cohn with a copy of a letter which the
Samaritans of Naplouse had addressed
some time previous to the Israelites of
Livorna. From that city they went to
Civita-Veccia, and from thence to Rome.
Albert Cohn was present at the audi
ence which Pope Gregory XVI had
given to James Rothschild on the occa
sion of that visit. It was at that inter
view that the Pope said to Rothschild:
“I am pleased with the Jews, and I
hope that they are also pleased with
me; ” and he gave him the permission to
establish an industrial school near the
Ghetto.
The sight of the Ghetto, that place of
suffering and misery, made on Albert
Cohn an impression of which he could
never rid himself. During the sufferings of
the late siege of Paris, he consoled him
self with the deliverance of the Jews of
the Ghetto. Thus he wrote to M. S
Alatri, per balloon mail: “ We are pris
oners. but Rome is free! ” By reason of
his knowledge of the Oriental languages,
he had occasion to confer often with
Cardinal Mezzofani,” “ one of the most
remarkable linguists that have ever ex
isted;” and with Cardinal Mai, the
director of the Vatican library, the cele
brated editor of the Palimpsestes.
Notwithstanding the great protesta
tions of friendship which these two Car
dinals have made toward him, he could
not obtain the permission to copy the
manuscript of Maimonides
Treatise on the Unity, which
is deposited in that library, and which he
desired to send to his friend, Salomon
Munk. He took recourse to a sly turn
for the purpose of copying that manu
script. He went every day to the lib
rary, committed a portion of that work
to memery, and coming home he copied
that portion. In this wise the whole
book was transcribed.
In the year 1839, Albert Cohn was
with the llothschild family at Naples.
From thence he traversed Switzerland,
proceeded to Vienna, to his native city
Presburg, to Frankfort, and at last to
Roedellieim, where he desired to see the
great printing office of Wolf lleiden
heim. After the absence of a year he
returned to Paris,
From that date, Albert Cohn re
mained the inseparable friend of the
Rothschilds, and consecrated his life to
work in behalf of humanity. Thus the
remainder of his life does not belong
any more to his private affairs; it must
be traced in connection with the devel
opment of Jewish affairs in France and
elsewhere. Before concluding this chap
ter, however, we may yet mention the
following events of his private life:
November 20th, 1844, he married Miss
Mathilda Loewengarde, a lady of good
parentage. She has proven a worthy
consort in life to him, and has taken
part in his works of charity, and accom
panied him in his travels to the East.
From this marriage he had two daugh
ters and four sons (a fifth son died in his
infancy) all of whom belong to the high
est circles of society, and some of them
holding municipal offices of honor and
distinction. As a notable instance of
Albert Cohn’s piety, we may mention
the fact, that from the dowry which he
had given to his children, he separated
Maasser (tithes) and distributed the
same for charitable purposes, For the
religious instruction of his and Roths
child’s children, he has written a cate
chism of great merit.
CO-EDUCATION.
BY IION. E. P. WESTON.
The editor of one of our prominent
papers says in a late issue, “We had
better settle down under the idea that
co-education is the established, and is to
be the permanent, policy of our higher
educational institutions.”
Established and permanent policy !
What say you, Harvard and Yale, and
Bowdoin and Williams, Amherst, Dart
mouth, and Beloit ? Is the policy of co
education established Avith you ? And
you, Yessar and Rockford, Smith, and
Wellesley, haAre you determined to hurry
open your doors, for the education of
young men, that you may be in harmony
with this established policy ? No, Mr.
editor, the facts are somewhat against
you, as yet, and are likely to remain so
for a long Avhile to come.
The writer of this article/ was intro
duced, a year or two since, to a promi
nent merchant in Chicago, with the
incidental remark that I wTas at the head
of the institution for young ladies at-.
“Don’t like your system, sir,” was the
prompt response.. “I prefer to educate
my sons and daughters together.” “Very
well,” I replied, “you have the oppor
tunity of doing so, at Evanston or Ober
lin, at Wheaton or Madison, at Lake
Forest, Chicago University, or elsewhere.
Other fathers prefer not to educate
their daughters away from home with
other people’s sons. Let each follow
his preference. As in • selling goods you
do not presume to dictate to your cus
tomers what they shall purchase, but
procure for them what they prefer to
buy, so in this matter of education, you
must not expect others to be governed
by your notions or mine, but to follow
their own judgments and preferences.
With these different demands in the
public mind, it would be the worst folly
to construct all schools upon one plan.
The old paths will not soon be abandon
ed to meet the wishes of any one set of
opinionists. Oberlin may do its “great
and good work,” for a great and worthy
class of young people, and may finish
off its graduates in languages, mathe
matics and matrimonies, to the highest
gratification of all concerned. But
many other institutions are better pleas
ing their patrons by educating their
sons by themselves, in the conflict of
masculine competition, without the stim
ulus afforded by the daily presence of
female competitors. .
Committees may discuss and decide
and recommend, and editors may “settle
down,” and announce their “established
policies,” but parents will go their own
ways, guided by their own judgments of
plans and policies, and patronize the
schools of their choice. The writer does
not regard it necessary, when his policy
of separate education is assailed, to
enter into any discussion of compara
tive merits. It is our sufficient reply
that a very large number of fathers and
mothers prefer our method, and refuse
to send their daughters to the “co-edu
cating” schools. Let each be governed
by his own preference and sense of fit
ness in this matter. And nobody will
be deluded by the hasty utterance of
our editorial friend, that “co-education
is to be the permanent policy.”
—Advance.
THE HEBREWS.
No race of men upon the earth are a
more interestihg study than the Jews.
With an ancestry dating back to the
very dawn of history, their life, biogra
phy, and religion have been woven into
and become a part of the records of the
past. Along the banks'of the Euphra
tes, the Nile, and the Jordan, from Ur
of the Chaldees and Palestine, two
thousand years before the coming of
Christ, we gather the connected and well
authenticated history of the Jews, and
the world in which they moved, and
which but for them would have been a
blank, or the records left at least in
great doubt. They were known as He
brews for over a thousand years after
the emigration of Abraham. The name
of Jew was applied after the dispersion*
of the ten tribes, and the House of Ju
dah became the loyal representation of
the people—separating as they did from
their brethren who gave themselves to
idolatry. It is not our purpose to enter
into the past history of this peculiar
people, but only to ball attention to
some current facts of interest. As we
glance at the history of Ijie persecutions
bitter, malignant, and unrelenting, which
followed this people in almost every
land and every age, we are struck with
amazement that they exist at all. But
this wonder increases when we see them
closely allied with every tongue and
every nation, driving in the marts of
trade, and shaping the policy .that rules
yet at the same time clinging to the
characteristics that mark them as uner
ringly to-day as when they took posses
sion of Palestine, thousands of years
ago.
But half a century has elapsed since
they began their emigration to America;
now they are in every state and every
city. For years they did not buy real
estate, but kept all their wealth in
money ; but during the war they became
purchasers of a large amount of realty,
and in every city are now to be found
some of the most solid business firms
among the Jews. Theis churches, or
synagogues, have rapidly multiplied—
notably so in New York, which has the
largest Jewish population of any Ameri
can city. It that city, we believe, they
have fourteen synogogues and temples,
a Jewish hospital, an orphan asylum,
and a home for the indigent. A recent
writer remarks that “there are more
Jews in the city of Newr York than re
main in the whole land of Palestine.”
The largest Jewish population in the
world is in Russia, and the next in Aus
tria. “According to the census, the
Cis-Lethian provinces contain 821,200
Jews, and Trans-Leithan nearly 600,000.”
In 1875, according to the records of the
Austrian army, there were enrolled in
its list 16,617 Jews. In all Palestine,
including Jerusalem, there are only
about 25,000.
*We would suggest: “after the alienation of
the ten tribes” under Jeroboam.
(Ed. Jew. Adv.)
As an instance of the toleration a
broad in the world, the King of Holland,
has issued orders to allow all Jews serv
ing in his army the privilege of keeping
all fast days and Jewish holidays. Dur
ing the last month there have been two
very notable gatherings of Jews, one in
our neighboring city of Milwaukee and
the other in Paris. That in Milwaukee
was intended to look into questions per
taining to Jewish interests in America
that in Paris was to give aid and advice
to the war-stricken districts which con
tain so large a proportion of the Jew
ish people. Since the destruction of the
temple, the Jews have had no regular
order of priesthood. The chief rabbis
of the various communities are the
rulers, and different sections often ma
terially differ in belief and government.
Many of the leading Jews have desired
to break up the Congregational custom
and establish some authoritative power
It is also a well known fact that a large
number of Jews have of late years
shown a desire to break over some of
the ancient land marks that have sepa
rated them from Christian denomina
tions. We have heard the charge that
this change was in the direction of in
fidelity, while others have classed it as
only a ‘ liberal Christianity.” Whatever
may be its direction, there is no (doubt
a spirit of change abroad among the
Jews in America which is marked by
liberality and advanced intelligence.
The societies which have been establish
ed in Chicago, the Young Men’s Hebrew
Associations, which have for their aims
the helping of young men to employ
ment, and introducing them into society
and winning them from vice, are most
praiseworthy and beneficial. These as
sociations in Chicago are many of them
prosperous ; have good libraries and
reading rooms, and every winter have
lectures and amusements attractive to
the young people.**
The Jews have recently started a
paper in Chicago, which promises suc
cess, The Jewish Advance, Thus far in
the United States, Jews have taken but
small part in politics ; in other countries
it has been different, and from the days
of Queen Esther and Mordecai, they
have filled important and influential
public positions. Whatever influence
they do exert in this country, is, for the
most part, on the side of law and order
and good government. While the Jew
loves wealth, and will drive a sharp bar
gain, he seldom' transgresses against the
statute law, and but seldom is a Jew
arraigned before a criminal court. Be
he ever so strict in his religion, he
makes no public parade of it ; nor does
he, in any manner, attempt to interfere
with the customs or enjoyment of others.
Loving and tender in the home circle,
kind and ready to lend a helping hand
to the poor of his race or the stranger,
it is true that many who make louder
professions might learn profitable and
practical lessons from this peculiar peo
ple, this Bible nation, who form a living
relic of the dead past.—Inter-Ocean.
*What say our young- friends to that ? Do
they deserve such credit? (Ed. Jew. Adv.)
The second night after her first hus
band died she sat by the open chamber
window live hours waiting for the cats
to begin fighting in the back yard ; She
said, “This thing of going to sleep with
out a quarrel of some kind is so new
that I cant stand it! Let me alone till
they begin ; then I can doze off gently !’r